What a way to arrive
Propelled By P-Power
SOON , if you got to go, you can actually zoom! The mavens at Ohio University reportedly are on record that urine-powered cars, home appliances and personal electronic devices could all be available in a matter of months, with new technology now in the pipeline. The gameplan is to use nickel-based electrodes to make large amounts of cheap hydrogen when making water, which could be burned in specially designed fuel cells. But then, the idea of pee power is not particularly novel. Its really based on hydrogen , the most common element in the universe. However , its one that has hugely resisted efforts to produce, store and transport at a reasonable cost. Besides, keeping pure hydrogen gas tightly sealed calls for high pressure and low temperature. Now, theres talk of new nanomaterials which can absorb hydrogen, but the contraptions are yet to be produced on a commercial scale.
Purists would want to chemically bind hydrogen to an element like oxygen, to have water aqua pura. This way, it certainly makes it easier to store and transport the feedstock alright, but releasing the hydrogen when needed does require financially ruinous amounts of electricity. Hence the prime import of pee. For, by attaching hydrogen to another element, nitrogen readily present in uric acid the hydrogen can be stored sans artificial conditions, and then released very economically, using just a wee bit of power. Peeing can have other uses too, say in space. The new Water Recovery System aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour can apparently transform ordinary pee into water so pure that it is said to rival the cleanest on Earth. Nonetheless, the real potential for pee power would be closer home. People in the know say urine from just one cow would be enough to light up a dozen homes in our rural areas. Or, imagine being able to relieve, recharge ones batteries and be rearing to go. For the upwardly mobile, what a way to arrive!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
SOLAR PASSIVE ARCHITECTURE
PERFECTLY GREEN
The ideal green office doesnt exist but heres one we built using eco-friendly features, like double glazed glass, terrace gardens, skylights etc from six buildings dotted around the country
Shobha John | TNN
First , it was outsourcing . Now, it is greening . The world can look at Indias green fingers with renewed respect after US secretary of state Hillary Clinton recently called the ITC Green Centre in Gurgaon a monument to the future. Clinton's comments came just weeks after a survey of 100 Indian companies found a marked increase in green consciousness.
The survey, by Johnson Controls, a consultant in energy efficiency management, found that 72% of Indian firms were green compared to just 39% in the US. So just how green is the Indian office And what makes a building green Energy saving, water conservation and reusing waste, says Zeenat Niazi, habitat programme director at Delhi NGO, Development Alternatives (DA). That's the theory, anyway. What of practice
WHO SAVES ENERGY LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW
Real estate company K Raheja Corp has designed its buildings to allow sunlight in and keep the heat out. This includes using glass of high ultraviolet value and having ACs with chillers, leading to high output, which in turn lowers costs.
Raheja vice-president Shabbir Kanchwala says these measures have reduced our monthly energy bill by anything between 20 and 30%. Thats a huge saving for a company that has built 50 lakh square feet of malls, hotels and homes.
Raheja is not the only one. Other Indian companies are now increasingly using lowe (low emission) coating, double-glazed windows in their offices. These allow sunlight in, while keeping heat out and can reduce energy consumptions by 8-10 %, says Pradeep Kumar, senior fellow at the Delhi-based Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI).
WHO HAS A LOW WATER FOOTPRINT
Cadbury India has constructed a check dam (this dams up a small river/nallah during monsoons) in its Bangalore factory to store rain water. It has resulted in a 20% reduction in water consumption and even attracted migratory birds, says the companys associate VP, corporate affairs, Ransom D - Souza. Use of low-flow toilet fixtures, which consume less water while maintaining pressure , tap sensors that automatically turn themselves off and waterless urinals are measures being implemented in ITC-Welcomgroup Hotels, says Alwyn Noronha, executive VP, Projects, ITC Ltd.
WHO KNOWS HOW TO DISPOSE OFF WASTE
The Delhi secretariat has linked itself to a paper recycling plant. Making offices paper-free and using certain plants like Canna which take up nutrients from sewage, leaving the water clear, says Niazi, are further options. This is done in Pondicherry, she adds.
WHO BUILDS WITH RECYCLED MATERIAL
DAs headquarters in Delhi. The office was built with compressed earth blocks that used mud salvaged from the NGO's old office. It has used industrial waste, such as fly ash, for the outer walls and ferro-cement channels with stone slabs instead of concrete blocks. These are extremely low energy materials . This reduced the cost of materials by almost 40%, says DAs Niazi.
WHO ELSE IS THINKING ABOUT GREEN PROCESSES
Cement company ACC has disposed of waste (plastics, sewage, etc) and biomass in cement kilns to reduce CO2 emissions , introduced high efficiency burners and seals, used wind energy for cement manufacturing and solar energy for water heating. In 2008, it processed about 12,900 tonnes of industrial waste and 12,750 tonnes of biomass.We are also exploring if energy can be generated through waste heat from the kiln circuit, says K N Rao, head of the company's environment and energy conservation cell.
Kumar says green offices can save companies as much as 60% over time and halve water-use . He says Indian companies started thinking green four years ago when a draft Energy Conservation Building Code was published, specifying energy norms for commercial buildings. Today, a green building can be certified either by the globally recognised LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) or GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment ), a voluntary rating appropriate for Indian conditions . India currently has 34 LEED-rated buildings and 26 awaiting a GRIHA rating.
A BLUEPRINT FOR OFFICES
A green office saves energy, re-uses water, disposes of waste and uses debris effectively
EXTERIORS
Use double glazed windows, which can reduce energy consumptions by 8-10 % Insulate roofs paint them white, make terrace gardens, use thermal barriers Benefits of retrofitting accrue in 6-10 years
LIGHTING
Replace T12 fluorescent lights with energy-efficient T5 ones Automate lighting controls, use occupancy sensors
FURNITURE
Have low partitions More open spaces Have skylights
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
Use computers with LCD monitors or laptops, which consume five times less electricity than desktop PCs
THERMAL COMFORT
Have a centralized AC system, automatically set to 26 degrees Clean AC condenser coils, which reduces energy bill by 20%
PLANK OF EXCELLENCE
Pradeep Sachdeva, a green architect who built ecofriendly buildings such as Dilli Haat cites Gandhi Ashram in Wardha as an example of a perfect building. Like the father of the nation, this building is minimalist and as natural as it can get, be it sunlight, ventilation or materials (bamboo, mud plaster, timber, mud floors), all of which have been procured from nearby places. Other buildings which he says deserve mention include ITCs Green Centre and the soon to be opened Royal Gardenia, Bengaluru
The ideal green office doesnt exist but heres one we built using eco-friendly features, like double glazed glass, terrace gardens, skylights etc from six buildings dotted around the country
Shobha John | TNN
First , it was outsourcing . Now, it is greening . The world can look at Indias green fingers with renewed respect after US secretary of state Hillary Clinton recently called the ITC Green Centre in Gurgaon a monument to the future. Clinton's comments came just weeks after a survey of 100 Indian companies found a marked increase in green consciousness.
The survey, by Johnson Controls, a consultant in energy efficiency management, found that 72% of Indian firms were green compared to just 39% in the US. So just how green is the Indian office And what makes a building green Energy saving, water conservation and reusing waste, says Zeenat Niazi, habitat programme director at Delhi NGO, Development Alternatives (DA). That's the theory, anyway. What of practice
WHO SAVES ENERGY LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW
Real estate company K Raheja Corp has designed its buildings to allow sunlight in and keep the heat out. This includes using glass of high ultraviolet value and having ACs with chillers, leading to high output, which in turn lowers costs.
Raheja vice-president Shabbir Kanchwala says these measures have reduced our monthly energy bill by anything between 20 and 30%. Thats a huge saving for a company that has built 50 lakh square feet of malls, hotels and homes.
Raheja is not the only one. Other Indian companies are now increasingly using lowe (low emission) coating, double-glazed windows in their offices. These allow sunlight in, while keeping heat out and can reduce energy consumptions by 8-10 %, says Pradeep Kumar, senior fellow at the Delhi-based Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI).
WHO HAS A LOW WATER FOOTPRINT
Cadbury India has constructed a check dam (this dams up a small river/nallah during monsoons) in its Bangalore factory to store rain water. It has resulted in a 20% reduction in water consumption and even attracted migratory birds, says the companys associate VP, corporate affairs, Ransom D - Souza. Use of low-flow toilet fixtures, which consume less water while maintaining pressure , tap sensors that automatically turn themselves off and waterless urinals are measures being implemented in ITC-Welcomgroup Hotels, says Alwyn Noronha, executive VP, Projects, ITC Ltd.
WHO KNOWS HOW TO DISPOSE OFF WASTE
The Delhi secretariat has linked itself to a paper recycling plant. Making offices paper-free and using certain plants like Canna which take up nutrients from sewage, leaving the water clear, says Niazi, are further options. This is done in Pondicherry, she adds.
WHO BUILDS WITH RECYCLED MATERIAL
DAs headquarters in Delhi. The office was built with compressed earth blocks that used mud salvaged from the NGO's old office. It has used industrial waste, such as fly ash, for the outer walls and ferro-cement channels with stone slabs instead of concrete blocks. These are extremely low energy materials . This reduced the cost of materials by almost 40%, says DAs Niazi.
WHO ELSE IS THINKING ABOUT GREEN PROCESSES
Cement company ACC has disposed of waste (plastics, sewage, etc) and biomass in cement kilns to reduce CO2 emissions , introduced high efficiency burners and seals, used wind energy for cement manufacturing and solar energy for water heating. In 2008, it processed about 12,900 tonnes of industrial waste and 12,750 tonnes of biomass.We are also exploring if energy can be generated through waste heat from the kiln circuit, says K N Rao, head of the company's environment and energy conservation cell.
Kumar says green offices can save companies as much as 60% over time and halve water-use . He says Indian companies started thinking green four years ago when a draft Energy Conservation Building Code was published, specifying energy norms for commercial buildings. Today, a green building can be certified either by the globally recognised LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) or GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment ), a voluntary rating appropriate for Indian conditions . India currently has 34 LEED-rated buildings and 26 awaiting a GRIHA rating.
A BLUEPRINT FOR OFFICES
A green office saves energy, re-uses water, disposes of waste and uses debris effectively
EXTERIORS
Use double glazed windows, which can reduce energy consumptions by 8-10 % Insulate roofs paint them white, make terrace gardens, use thermal barriers Benefits of retrofitting accrue in 6-10 years
LIGHTING
Replace T12 fluorescent lights with energy-efficient T5 ones Automate lighting controls, use occupancy sensors
FURNITURE
Have low partitions More open spaces Have skylights
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
Use computers with LCD monitors or laptops, which consume five times less electricity than desktop PCs
THERMAL COMFORT
Have a centralized AC system, automatically set to 26 degrees Clean AC condenser coils, which reduces energy bill by 20%
PLANK OF EXCELLENCE
Pradeep Sachdeva, a green architect who built ecofriendly buildings such as Dilli Haat cites Gandhi Ashram in Wardha as an example of a perfect building. Like the father of the nation, this building is minimalist and as natural as it can get, be it sunlight, ventilation or materials (bamboo, mud plaster, timber, mud floors), all of which have been procured from nearby places. Other buildings which he says deserve mention include ITCs Green Centre and the soon to be opened Royal Gardenia, Bengaluru
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Ureka! Now, dial pee for power
Ureka! Now, dial pee for power
Ruhi Bhasin | TNN
New Delhi: Heres one way in which you can contribute to the city by not peeing in the open. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to convert urine collected in its public urinals into power. The civic agency has roped in engineers from a USbased company to study the feasibility of producing power from urine released from its waterless urinals, which are ceramic bowls containing negligible water and bio-degradable chemicals in a cartridge (see graphic).
Having already set up two waterless urinals at Town Hall and ISBT, MCD wants to develop 1,000 such kiosks, each comprising four urinals, in the city before Commonwealth Games 2010. According to estimates made by Karan Aneja and Siddhartha Saha, who are engineering graduates from University of California, Berkeley, over 20,000 KW power can be generated from these 1,000 kiosks from 20,000 litres of urine.
Aneja, who is a bio-engineer , claims that they have already generated electricity from urine and their company , SIDKAR, has set up a plant at Okhla as a pilot project. Said Aneja: From one litre of urine, we will be able to produce 1 KW of power. Using a bacterial process in a power plant, urine is converted into hydrogen gas and water. While water is cleaned by reverse osmosis and can be used for industrial purpose, hydrogen is used to produce electricity.
Though this is the first time something like this is being attempted in India, MCDs dismal track record in implementing such innovative projects raises many questions about the viability of the plan. Experts say that the projection of 1 KW of power from one litre of urine is way too extreme. Moreover, the process of breaking down the waste is very time-consuming , they contend. However , Aneja said it takes only 19 seconds. While such projects will indeed raise doubts, there have been attempts round the world to breake urine into hydrogen for producing energy (see graphic).
The civic body has been working on this project for the past nine months. Said Saha, who is a chemical engineer: We started work on this concept two years ago. Billboards installed around these toilets will be lit up from the power produced through this process. The cost of setting up the power plant is Rs 1.5 lakh. They hope to start the project by August-end . At present, safety issues are being looked into as a combustible gas is produced at the end of the process.
Saha said they are not looking at profits. MCD is not investing anything in the project except for providing the land. Once the project takes off, we would like to extend it to other parts of the country too. We wanted to start from Delhi as the city was already working on waterless toilets. Moreover , it is also the venue of Commonwealth Games 2010.
Confirming that the project is on track, an MCD official said that this would ensure well-maintained urinals in the city. He said: The waterless toilets help save water besides taking care of the problem of foul smell. The area around it will also be wellmaintained after the power plants come up.
ruhi.bhasin2@timesgroup .com
Ruhi Bhasin | TNN
New Delhi: Heres one way in which you can contribute to the city by not peeing in the open. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is planning to convert urine collected in its public urinals into power. The civic agency has roped in engineers from a USbased company to study the feasibility of producing power from urine released from its waterless urinals, which are ceramic bowls containing negligible water and bio-degradable chemicals in a cartridge (see graphic).
Having already set up two waterless urinals at Town Hall and ISBT, MCD wants to develop 1,000 such kiosks, each comprising four urinals, in the city before Commonwealth Games 2010. According to estimates made by Karan Aneja and Siddhartha Saha, who are engineering graduates from University of California, Berkeley, over 20,000 KW power can be generated from these 1,000 kiosks from 20,000 litres of urine.
Aneja, who is a bio-engineer , claims that they have already generated electricity from urine and their company , SIDKAR, has set up a plant at Okhla as a pilot project. Said Aneja: From one litre of urine, we will be able to produce 1 KW of power. Using a bacterial process in a power plant, urine is converted into hydrogen gas and water. While water is cleaned by reverse osmosis and can be used for industrial purpose, hydrogen is used to produce electricity.
Though this is the first time something like this is being attempted in India, MCDs dismal track record in implementing such innovative projects raises many questions about the viability of the plan. Experts say that the projection of 1 KW of power from one litre of urine is way too extreme. Moreover, the process of breaking down the waste is very time-consuming , they contend. However , Aneja said it takes only 19 seconds. While such projects will indeed raise doubts, there have been attempts round the world to breake urine into hydrogen for producing energy (see graphic).
The civic body has been working on this project for the past nine months. Said Saha, who is a chemical engineer: We started work on this concept two years ago. Billboards installed around these toilets will be lit up from the power produced through this process. The cost of setting up the power plant is Rs 1.5 lakh. They hope to start the project by August-end . At present, safety issues are being looked into as a combustible gas is produced at the end of the process.
Saha said they are not looking at profits. MCD is not investing anything in the project except for providing the land. Once the project takes off, we would like to extend it to other parts of the country too. We wanted to start from Delhi as the city was already working on waterless toilets. Moreover , it is also the venue of Commonwealth Games 2010.
Confirming that the project is on track, an MCD official said that this would ensure well-maintained urinals in the city. He said: The waterless toilets help save water besides taking care of the problem of foul smell. The area around it will also be wellmaintained after the power plants come up.
ruhi.bhasin2@timesgroup .com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Hydrogen from urine to fuel cars
Pee power: Hydrogen from urine to fuel cars
Scientists have combined refuelling your car and relieving yourself by creating a new catalyst that can extract hydrogen from urine.
The catalyst could not only fuel the hydrogen-powered cars of the future, but could also help clean up municipal wastewater, physorg.com reported on Monday. Gerardine Botte of Ohio University uses an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine the most abundant waste on earth at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water.
Urines major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules. Botte uses electrolysis to break the molecule apart, developing an inexpensive nickel-based electrode to efficiently oxidise the urea.
To break the molecule down, a voltage of 0.37V needs to be applied across the cell, which is much less than the 1.23V needed to split water.
During the electrochemical process the urea gets adsorbed on to the nickel electrode surface, which passes the electrons needed to break up the molecule, Botte told Chemistry World journal. AGENCIES
Scientists have combined refuelling your car and relieving yourself by creating a new catalyst that can extract hydrogen from urine.
The catalyst could not only fuel the hydrogen-powered cars of the future, but could also help clean up municipal wastewater, physorg.com reported on Monday. Gerardine Botte of Ohio University uses an electrolytic approach to produce hydrogen from urine the most abundant waste on earth at a fraction of the cost of producing hydrogen from water.
Urines major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules. Botte uses electrolysis to break the molecule apart, developing an inexpensive nickel-based electrode to efficiently oxidise the urea.
To break the molecule down, a voltage of 0.37V needs to be applied across the cell, which is much less than the 1.23V needed to split water.
During the electrochemical process the urea gets adsorbed on to the nickel electrode surface, which passes the electrons needed to break up the molecule, Botte told Chemistry World journal. AGENCIES
Monday, June 15, 2009
SOLAR POWER PLANT FROM THERMAL POWER PLANT
Sunrise at vacant Bengal power plant
Shunned By Pvt Firms, Abandoned Station To Generate 3M Units/Yr Solar Electricity
Subhro Niyogi | TNN
Jamuria (Raniganj): In perhaps the first significant climate responsive project in South Asia, an abandoned thermal power plant has been converted into a mega solar power generating station. Its quite likely the worlds only high carbon power unit being replaced by a zero-carbon one.
The two-mw project, the first in solar sphere to cross the megawatt threshold, is poised to give a huge fillip to Indias renewable energy ambitions and marks the culmination of solar man S P Gon Chaudhuris dream. Six years ago, the diminutive man won the Ashden award, popularly known as the Green Oscar.
This is Indias empowerment in green energy and demonstrates the countrys intent and ability to be climate responsive in the energy sector. It has already catalysed commercial interest in solar power that has been shunned by private companies due to high capital investment and longer break-even period, said Gon Chaudhuri, who is also the managing director of West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC).
At present, capital investment in a solar plant is Rs 15-18 crore per mega watt four times that of thermal at Rs 4-5 crore/mw. The cost is expected to reduce by half and efficiency double when nano technology is integrated in solar cells in about five years.
The project, located in Jamuria , 20 km from Asansol and 210 km from Kolkata, is in the heart of Indias coal belt. A six mw coal-based thermal power plant of Dishergarh Power Supply Co (DPSC) once stood on the eight acre plot that is now the site of the solar project comprising 9,000 crystalline type solar modules of 230 watt each. The plant will generate three million units of electricity a year, enough to light 2,000 rural or 500 urban households.
The facility will save seven lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide emission a day. Thats as much CO2 as two mw thermal projects emit daily. The power that the solar plant will generate will be fed into DPSCs grid for distribution to customers in the Asansol-Raniganj belt.
The unique project could help Bengal reclaim its pioneer status in the power sector after nearly a century. Way back in 1897, the countrys first hydel project of 600 kw was set up at Sidrapong in Darjeeling.
At present, half the project has been completed with the 4,500 solar modules generating 1.25-mw electricity . WBGEDC is vetting proposals from several private firms who have shown interest in setting up the other half of the project.
DPSC will purchase power at Rs 5 per unit and the ministry of new and renewable energy resources (MNRER) will pay Rs 10 per unit as generation incentive . WBGEDC can earn a further 97 paise per unit through sale of carbon credit that the project will accrue . Annual revenue is pegged at Rs 4.8 crore.
The project is expected to play a crucial role in achieving the solar mission of 15,000 mw under the Prime Minister Climate Action Plan. That is imperative with the Planning Commission projecting a capacity addition of 6.5 lakh mw from thermal, nuclear, hydel and gas by 2030, leaving a deficit of 1.5 lakh mw that only solar energy can meet.
Using todays technology , solar energy can generate eight lakh mw by utilizing wastelands across the country. This technology demonstration should give companies the confidence to invest in solar power. We are keen to bridge the daytime deficit through solar and replace diesel wherever possible, said MNRER director B Bhargava.
Shunned By Pvt Firms, Abandoned Station To Generate 3M Units/Yr Solar Electricity
Subhro Niyogi | TNN
Jamuria (Raniganj): In perhaps the first significant climate responsive project in South Asia, an abandoned thermal power plant has been converted into a mega solar power generating station. Its quite likely the worlds only high carbon power unit being replaced by a zero-carbon one.
The two-mw project, the first in solar sphere to cross the megawatt threshold, is poised to give a huge fillip to Indias renewable energy ambitions and marks the culmination of solar man S P Gon Chaudhuris dream. Six years ago, the diminutive man won the Ashden award, popularly known as the Green Oscar.
This is Indias empowerment in green energy and demonstrates the countrys intent and ability to be climate responsive in the energy sector. It has already catalysed commercial interest in solar power that has been shunned by private companies due to high capital investment and longer break-even period, said Gon Chaudhuri, who is also the managing director of West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC).
At present, capital investment in a solar plant is Rs 15-18 crore per mega watt four times that of thermal at Rs 4-5 crore/mw. The cost is expected to reduce by half and efficiency double when nano technology is integrated in solar cells in about five years.
The project, located in Jamuria , 20 km from Asansol and 210 km from Kolkata, is in the heart of Indias coal belt. A six mw coal-based thermal power plant of Dishergarh Power Supply Co (DPSC) once stood on the eight acre plot that is now the site of the solar project comprising 9,000 crystalline type solar modules of 230 watt each. The plant will generate three million units of electricity a year, enough to light 2,000 rural or 500 urban households.
The facility will save seven lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide emission a day. Thats as much CO2 as two mw thermal projects emit daily. The power that the solar plant will generate will be fed into DPSCs grid for distribution to customers in the Asansol-Raniganj belt.
The unique project could help Bengal reclaim its pioneer status in the power sector after nearly a century. Way back in 1897, the countrys first hydel project of 600 kw was set up at Sidrapong in Darjeeling.
At present, half the project has been completed with the 4,500 solar modules generating 1.25-mw electricity . WBGEDC is vetting proposals from several private firms who have shown interest in setting up the other half of the project.
DPSC will purchase power at Rs 5 per unit and the ministry of new and renewable energy resources (MNRER) will pay Rs 10 per unit as generation incentive . WBGEDC can earn a further 97 paise per unit through sale of carbon credit that the project will accrue . Annual revenue is pegged at Rs 4.8 crore.
The project is expected to play a crucial role in achieving the solar mission of 15,000 mw under the Prime Minister Climate Action Plan. That is imperative with the Planning Commission projecting a capacity addition of 6.5 lakh mw from thermal, nuclear, hydel and gas by 2030, leaving a deficit of 1.5 lakh mw that only solar energy can meet.
Using todays technology , solar energy can generate eight lakh mw by utilizing wastelands across the country. This technology demonstration should give companies the confidence to invest in solar power. We are keen to bridge the daytime deficit through solar and replace diesel wherever possible, said MNRER director B Bhargava.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Here comes the sun
| Here comes the sun | ||
| K.R. Balasubramanyam | ||
| April 16, 2009 | ||
| When West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation commissions its 2 MW photovoltaic (PV) solar power plant at Jamuria near Asansol in April-May, it will leave an indelible mark on India’s renewable energy sector for more than one reason. One: it is going to be the country’s largest solar plant. Two: its scale equals the combined capacity of solar plants India took decades to create. West Bengal is blazing the trail for the rest of India to catch up. By the end of this year, Astonfield Solar is set to commission two plants of 1.5 MW each in West Bengal and Rajasthan. Moser Baer’s 5 MW project in Rajasthan will go on stream early next year. Solar power plants have suddenly graduated into the “big” league— megawatt size, albeit single digits. And the flurry of activity is warming the engines of an otherwise dormant economy. What, in fact, electrified the sector was Bengal’s policy announcement in January 2008, followed by one from the Government of India the same month. West Bengal, which has already allotted projects worth 40 MW for commissioning before March 31, 2012, gives promoters a feed-in tariff of Rs 11 per unit for 20 years. The Union government’s Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE), which aims to add 50 MW during the same period, offers a generationbased incentive at or below Rs 12 a unit. A developer opting for the MNRE scheme gets Rs 15 per unit in the form of tariff plus incentive. Following these announcements, an estimated 2000 MW worth of investment proposals have reached the ministry, even though not all may be serious developers. As if this was not enough, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced that his government is determined to add 500 MW by March 31, 2014, and will pay the developer Rs 13 per unit for the first 12 years and at Rs 3 for 13 years after that. The developers have lapped up the scheme by promising projects adding up to a capacity of 3,275 MW. Gujarat’s attraction: tariff support for 25 years, against the MNRE’s 10 years. Gujarat’s policy prompted fellow BJP-ruled state Karnataka to plan a similar scheme. “We are also working on a policy that fits our state best. We are looking at a target and tariffs similar to that of Gujarat,” says K. Jairaj, Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Karnataka. Dr Bharat Bhargav, Director (Solar PV), MNRE, sums up the opportunity size: “If someone invests in setting up a solar plant, he will not regret it. There is 5,000 trillion kilo Watt hour (kWh) of solar radiation incidence over the land area of India. That is the size of opportunity available to investors.” And S.P. Gon Chaudhuri, Managing Director of WB Green Energy Corporation, who has championed solar and other renewable energy forms since his days as a bureaucrat, concurs: “We will have 17 MW of more solar capacity by the end of 2010, and all 40 MW during the 11th Plan period.’’ India’s leading maker of PV cells, Tata BP Solar, is equally upbeat about the opportunities. Its CEO, K. Subramanya, welcomes the MNRE policy but questions the limit of 50 MW. The current incentive is not adequate “since the cost of generation is higher than that (Rs 15/unit), given the high cost of finance as well as high cost of raw materials (silicon wafers)...The incentives should be extended for 20-25 years. The timeline for commissioning of generation plants should be extended beyond Dec 31, 2009, by one year,” Subramanya insists. But if tariffs are not exciting enough, why are investors rushing with proposals? Anil Patni, DGM, Tata BP Solar, explains: “The sudden explosion of interest could be in anticipation of the government raising both the ceiling and tariffs.’’ As Sourabh Sen, Co-chairman of Astonfield Renewable Resources, says: “Ten per cent of grid consumption should come from clean and green power as India is the sunniest nation.” Sen, whose company is developing projects of about 280 MW, however, cites one dampener: PV panels are 35 per cent cheaper in global markets than in India. Rajiv Arya, CEO of Moser Baer Photovoltaic, says he would not mind a comprehensive policy based on a single window for clearances and approvals. “The Government should design more policies that allows 1,000 MW and above with a sound framework of subsidies at every level,” says Arya. “The current policy has laborious system of checks that slows down the other processes.” Promoters cite another factor behind India’s slow progress compared with leaders like Spain or Germany: high capital costs. “Costs will come down as technology improves and the market expands. But remember, the cost of conventional electricity will keep shooting up, while that of non-conventional power will keep coming down,’’ says Patni of Tata BP. Logical: fossil fuels won’t last for ever. And India’s days in the sun have come. | ||
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
alternative energy : CAVEAT EMPTY
Oil: Caveat empty
By Alfred J. CavalloMay/June 2005 pp. 16-18 (vol. 61, no. 03) © 2005 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
- Without any press conferences, grand announcements, or hyperbolic advertising campaigns, the Exxon Mobil Corporation, one of the world's largest publicly owned petroleum companies, has quietly joined the ranks of those who are predicting an impending plateau in non-OPEC oil production. Their report, The Outlook for Energy: A 2030 View, forecasts a peak in just five years.
- In the past, many who expressed such concerns were dismissed as eager catastrophists, peddling the latest Malthusian prophecy of the impending collapse of fossil-fueled civilization. Their reliance on private oil-reserve data that is unverifiable by other analysts, and their use of models that ignore political and economic factors, have led to frequent erroneous pronouncements. They were countered by the extreme optimists, who believed that we would never need to think about such problems and that the markets would take care of everything. Up to now, those who worried about limited petroleum supplies have been at best ignored, and at worst openly ridiculed.
- Meanwhile, average consumers have taken their cue from the market, where rising prices have always been followed by falling prices, leading to the assumption that this pattern will continue forever. In truth, the market price of crude oil is completely decoupled from and independent of production costs, which average about $6 per barrel for non-OPEC producers and $1.50 per barrel for OPEC producers. This situation has nothing to do with a free market, and everything to do with what OPEC believes will be accepted or tolerated by the United States. The completely affordable market price--what consumers pay at the gasoline pump--provides magisterial profits to the owners of the resource and gives no warning of impending shortages.
- All the more reason that the public should heed the silent alarm sounded by the ExxonMobil report, which is more credible than other predictions for several reasons. First and foremost is that the source is ExxonMobil. No oil company, much less one with so much managerial, scientific, and engineering talent, has ever discussed peak oil production before. Given the profound implications of this forecast, it must have been published only after a thorough review.
- Second, the majority of non-OPEC producers such as the United States, Britain, Norway, and Mexico, who satisfy 60 percent of world oil demand, are already in a production plateau or decline. (All of ExxonMobil's crude oil production comes from non-OPEC fields.) Third, the production peak cited by the report is quite close at hand. If it were twenty-five years instead of five years in the future, one might be more skeptical, since new technologies or new discoveries could change the outlook during that longer period. But five years is too short a time frame for any new developments to have an impact on this result.
- Also noteworthy is the manner in which the Outlook addresses so-called frontier resources, such as extra-heavy oil, "oil sands," and "oil shale." The report cites the existence of more than 4 trillion barrels of extra heavy oil and "oil sands"--producing potentially 800 billion barrels of oil, assuming a 20-25 percent extraction efficiency. The Outlook also cites an estimate of 3 trillion barrels of "oil shale." These numbers have figured prominently in advertisements that ExxonMobil and other petroleum companies have placed in newspapers and magazines, clearly in an attempt to reassure consumers (and perhaps stockholders) that there is no need to worry about resource constraints for many decades.
- However, as with all advertisements, it's best to read the fine print. ExxonMobil's world oil production forecast shows no contribution from "oil shale" even by 2030. Only about 4 million barrels of oil per day from Canadian "oil sands" are projected by 2030, accounting for a mere 3.3 percent of the predicted total world demand of 120 million barrels per day. What explains this striking disconnection between the magnitude of the frontier resources and the minimal amount of projected oil production from them? Canadian "oil sands" are actually deposits of bitumen (tar), which are the result of conventional oil degradation by water and air. Tar sands are of a completely different character than conventional oil deposits; making tar sands usable is a capital-intensive venture that requires special procedures such as heating to separate the tar from the sand, mixing the tar with a diluting agent for pipeline transport, and constructing specially equipped refineries for processing.
The most serious constraint, though, is natural gas supplies. Production of oil from tar sands requires between 400 and 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas per barrel of oil produced, depending on the extraction method used. Natural gas production, despite a near doubling of drilling activity, is flat or decreasing both in Canada and in the United States--which has prompted prices to triple over the past few years. Given these high gas prices, it almost makes more sense just to sell the natural gas directly rather than use it to produce oil from tar sands. - Extracting oil from the 3 trillion barrels of oil shale cited in the Outlook presents its own challenges. The term "oil shale" is also quite misleading, since there is no oil in this mineral, but rather an organic material called kerogen, which is a precursor of petroleum. To extract oil, the shale (typically between 5 and 25 percent kerogen) must first be mined, then transported to a plant where it is crushed, then heated to 500 degrees Celsius, which pyrolyzes, or decomposes, the kerogen to form oil. After processing, most of the shale remains on the surface in the form of coarse sand, so large-scale mining operations will produce immense amounts of waste material. An estimated 1-4 barrels of water are required for each barrel of oil produced, both for cooling the products and stabilizing the sand waste. To satisfy these water requirements, petroleum companies once contemplated diverting the Columbia River--a feat that can be excluded today on political and environmental grounds.
- With non-OPEC oil production reaching a plateau and frontier resources not viable, ExxonMobil proposes that increased demand be met in two ways. The first is greater fuel efficiency. (That alone should convey the seriousness of this report: When have you ever heard a petroleum company make a plea for vehicles that use less gas?) New cars in the United States are expected to go 38 miles on a gallon of gas in 2030, instead of the current value of 21 miles per gallon. This goal is actually quite modest, as new cars sold in Europe since 2003 already achieve 35 miles per gallon.
- The other way ExxonMobil believes demand will be satisfied is from vastly and rapidly increased OPEC production: "After 2010, the call on OPEC increases quickly, requiring OPEC to add more than 1 MBD [million barrels per day] of capacity every year," notes the Outlook. "OPEC's resources are large enough to achieve this rate of expansion, and we expect that investments will be made in a timely manner."
- This assessment is somewhat ominous. OPEC has not expanded production capacity much at all recently. Moreover, such production increases are only possible from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. For these countries, and indeed for most OPEC members, petroleum and petroleum products are their only significant export. As such, they have a vested interest in obtaining the best possible price for their non-renewable resources. OPEC nations would be quite unlikely to increase production as rapidly as needed unless compelled to do so. To put this shortfall in perspective, in 2003 Algeria produced 1.1 million barrels per day; a new Algeria would need to be brought on line in the Persian Gulf each and every year beyond 2010 just to keep up with the projected increase in demand. Consequently, once non-OPEC production reaches a peak, conventional world oil production could peak shortly thereafter, and prices (never explicitly mentioned in the Outlook) would rise in accordance with the laws of supply and demand.
- What all this means is that the petroleum industry is approaching a turning point. Conventional petroleum production will soon--perhaps in five years, ten at best--no longer be able to satisfy demand. For their part, American consumers would do well to take a cue from their Western European counterparts, who enjoy a comfortable lifestyle despite a per capita use of petroleum that is half of that in the United States. The sooner the United States begins this transition away from oil, the easier it will be. That's a far more attractive option than trying to squeeze oil from stone.
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